Last August, I signed up for Wittlebee to see what all the buzz was about. The premise of this clothing club is that it is a monthly subscription of six clothing items that are hand-picked by Wittlebee’s stylists based on your style profile. The price is $39.99. I had been wanting to try it since Mrs. Bee wrote a post about it, but couldn’t justify shelling out nearly $40 for little man clothes when I already had a full closet of clothes for Cobi. Gumhouse (now Topfloor) had a special for 50% off and I snagged a deal. I was psyched to be able to try it at a discount!

First you fill out a style profile with basic information such as child’s age and clothing size; then you get to the fun stuff. These are the choices I made:




Then comes the option to add style notes. I added a few because there were a few things I knew I wanted, and a few things I knew I didn’t want.

Want to see how well they followed my profile?!

I received three short sleeve shirts, one onesie, a pair of cotton knit pants and a pair of jeans. I first noticed that although I requested long-sleeves on my profile, I received all short-sleeved items. Since fall was coming up, I knew I’d need some more long-sleeved items. That was disappointing to me.

Secondly, I received a onesie with an animal on it, when I hadn’t chosen the animals category. However, the giraffe onesie was initially my favorite item of all the items! So I wasn’t disappointed in that item, just the principle.

I also selected pants, and received two pairs. That fit well with my profile.

Let’s go through each item individually: 1. Striped Polo by Teddyboom

I did expect to get a polo; I chose preppy as a style preference and in my style notes I said I liked preppy “little man” styles. This shirt also fit my profile as it’s grey and yellow (which I was happy to see), in addition to stripes. As far as this shirt goes, they couldn’t have matched my profile more perfectly. For some reason I’m not in love with the item, but I do like it and will have Cobi wear it. It is 12 months though (Cobi was 6 months when I signed up), so it still won’t fit him for awhile — at 11 months now he is still in size 6-9 months.

On Amazon, a Teddyboom polo retails for $5.50.

2. Green Tee by American Apparel

I totally love this teeshirt. Green wasn’t one of the colors I chose (I did receive three green items!), but I love Cobi in green, so it wasn’t an issue for me. This item is just a plain, basic tee, but I know American Apparel is high-quality, it’s soft and fits well. I was really excited about this piece. It’s definitely more basic, but that makes it easy to layer and do more with it. After having this tee for awhile it’s become a favorite of ours! It’s super cute with patterned pants and I love the snug fit.

American Apparel tees for babies run at $10 each.

3. Green knit pants by American Apparel

This item is so-so for me. Like I said, green was not one of my colors of choice, so I was surprised to get three green items, however the pants are cute enough. I do like American Apparel, so I am happy with the brand. The quality seems good, although since its size is during the crawling stage, I was eager to see how well it held up. He has fit in this item for awhile now and it’s a really cute pair of basic stay-at-home-pants. I might not have picked it myself, but I don’t mind it. This item goes for $12 at American Apparel.

4. Green polo by Kicky Pants

I am unsure about this item. It definitely fits the hipster and preppy categories I chose, so I cannot fault them for sending it to me. It also is a “geometric pattern” which is what I included in my style notes. I do think it’s cute, but again, not an item I would have chosen myself. And it’s green. Although I have nothing against green, and like I said, I love it on Cobi. But I would have liked to see them stick to the colors I specifically chose (grey, yellow and black).

I love the material on this one; it’s soft and really high-quality. One downside, which I would definitely try to avoid in a child’s item, is that it’s hand wash only, line dry. I would never buy an item for a baby with delicate washing instructions! Ha!

This item retails for $12 at Kicky Pants.

5. Giraffe Onesie by American Apparel

Another American Apparel item — that is three in one box. I might have liked a little more diversity in the brands, however they did choose a high quality brand to feature. This was initially my favorite item in the box though. The giraffe with sunglasses and converse is way too cute. The only thing I didn’t like about it is the Witttlebee logo, which wouldn’t even be that bad if it didn’t say “kids clothing club.” I personally don’t like people as walking billboards. I did request no licensed characters. I suppose this may not exactly be a licensed character, but close enough in my mind. However, I love that giraffe so much it doesn’t matter. Sidenote: I also didn’t choose animals in my style profile.

Knit onesies retail for $11.50 at American Apparel.

6. Jeans by TeddyBoom

This was my one major disappointment in the box. Not only do these jeans remind me of a style from the 90′s, but they also appear to be the kind of denim that bleeds easily. They are also extremely poorly made. One of the first things I noticed was a hole near the crotch seam.

I called customer service and wasn’t able to talk to anyone, so I also submitted a query online. Initially the customer service rep said it would be no issue to exchange once I showed them proof of the defect. However they mentioned they would include the extra item in my next box. I had only bought a one-month subscription and after they only half-followed my profile and notes, I wasn’t going to pay $40 for another month. I told them this and they never emailed me back, so to this day those jeans sit at the bottom of his dresser, never worn with tags still on. I was hoping I might be able to get just the pants exchanged. I do like the rest of the box quite a bit, even if they weren’t items I would have picked out on my own. It encourages me to branch out a bit. But these jeans… big fail. Sorry Wittlebee! The quality on these jeans leaves much to be desired. And no offense Teddyboom, but they’re kinda downright ugly. I have many other jeans in this size that are ten times cuter and were much cheaper.

Speaking of which, I cannot find anywhere online what these pants go for, but saw a few ebay listings for around $10, so we’ll go with that.

Would I order again? For $40 – no. Six items for $40 comes to $6.67 an item. For some that may seem like a steal. But for a frugalista like me, my cardinal rule was to never pay $5+ for an item of clothing for my then-6 month old son… except for a pair or shoes or a coat. I was willing to try again for another 50% promo, which I did. But that box was worse than this one, so I’m afraid Wittlebee is a no-go for me.

If you decide to try Wittlebee, I would encourage you to provide thorough style notes and be honest about what you want — also consider personally speaking to a style rep, which I didn’t do. I didn’t receive licensed characters, skulls (which, for some reason, seem to be popular in boys’ clothing), or slogans. I was happy about that. I did receive stripes and geometric prints as I requested. I also requested no orange or red and didn’t receive any of those colors. I do think the style notes are more important than the profile. I also would have requested specific brands had I thought about it. I would have requested American Apparel, as well as Tiny Whales (which I received in my next box and was my favorite item). However, without knowing the brands they carry, this might be hard. But if you speak with a stylist you may be able to ask about the brands.

Adding up all the items, the total comes to about $61 retail for all six items. It’s more than I would have paid for six items, but so is $40. I definitely could have found six items for less than $40. However, I did only pay $20 for this box, so I got a deal here ($3.33/item).

I still think this would be a fun gift to give/receive! I may consider this for friends and family in the future.

In short, I love the idea of Wittlebee and for the right person it could be a lifesaver! I think it gets better as you go as well; you learn to leave better notes based on what you like. I’ve heard the customer service is great as well, for repeat customers anyway. Personally they dropped the ball when it came to exchanging my defective item because I wasn’t going to order another box. But I would still recommend trying this service, especially if you can find a 50% off deal and if you aren’t a fan of shopping yourself (I am!). I will try this again if/when I have a little girl, as many of the brands they feature for girls are adorable such as Trish Scully and Tea Collection to name a few.

Have you ever purchased a Wittlebee box?